Security News > 2023 > February > School laptop auction devolves into extortion allegation

When a Texas school district sold some old laptops at auction last year, it probably didn't expect to end up in a public legal fight with a local computer repair shop - but a debate over what to do with district data found on the liquidated machines has led to precisely that.

The San Benito Consolidated Independent School District sold more than 3,500 devices at auction in July 2022, of which 700 were purchased by local computer repair and resale shop RDA Technologies.

RDA co-owner David Avila said he found 11 hard drives the district had failed to wipe, and which contained sensitive data on employees and students.

The district admitted to the exposure of the data as a result of the sale to RDA, but said Avila's company "Has not agreed to our proposed solution." Avila disputed that characterization in a late January interview, saying that the district wanted him to sign a nondisclosure agreement as part of a deal to buy back the 11 computers, and an additional 503 that hadn't been inspected.

The district fired back with a statement on February 2, along with a copy [PDF] of communications with RDA. Among those communications are accusations from the district's legal representatives that Avila is attempting to "Extort" the district.

The district also called RDA out for a similar scheme at a different Texas school district in 2019.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/02/06/school_laptop_auction_devolves_into/